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Business AnalyticsIBM Software
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ANCAP understood that the possibilities for business innovation were huge, and teamed up with IBM® Business Partner Quanam to implement a new analytics solution, built around IBM Cognos® software.
Rosario Pontillo, Solutions Development Manager at ANCAP, says, “The IBM Cognos software perfectly integrates with the rest of our IT landscape, including our SAP applications – which is a huge advantage because it enables us to unite data from across the enterprise to reveal new insights and improve operational efficiency.”
Automated applications for on-the-spot budgetingA central concern for ANCAP is represented by its financial budgeting plans which need to be developed and delivered on both a public and a private level.
Sergio Pi, CIO at ANCAP, comments: “In the past, we used spreadsheet-based processes to manage our budgeting plans, and it could take up to 60 days just to consolidate and review all the information. With IBM Cognos TM1®, we can now carry out this operation in two days. Having a comprehensive and totally trusted view of our finances within 48 hours is invaluable for us.”
Contingency planning for multiple scenariosANCAP also benefits from being able to create much more complex and detailed budgets. The company can simulate different scenarios in order to better understand the company’s profitability and its position in the market.
For example, global fluctuations in the price of oil are likely to have a significant effect on almost every aspect of ANCAP’s business. With TM1, the company can enter several different predicted values for oil prices into its budgeting model, and calculate the impact on profitability, pricing, cash flow, human resources and other elements of the budget in each case.
“Previously, creating even one version of the budget was a huge effort,” comments Pi. “Now we can quickly and easily create multiple different versions to assess the possible scenarios – helping us plan effectively for the future and mitigate the risk of unforeseen market changes.”
Solution componentsSoftware• IBM® Cognos® Business Intelligence
version 10.2• IBM Cognos Data Manager• IBM Cognos Metric Studio• IBM Cognos Report Studio
• IBM Cognos TM1®
IBM Business Partner• Quanam
Business AnalyticsIBM Software
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“The IBM Cognos solution we implemented was a total success, in every area of the company up to top management levels, and we are absolutely satisfied with the technical support and business insight delivered by both IBM and Quanam.”
— Sergio Pi, CIO, ANCAP
Real-time analysis for better managementAnother key requirement for ANCAP is the delivery of information to all its refineries across all of its business areas. Reports are created in the form of lengthy presentations (containing at least 50 slides) which contain all the key performance indicators that need to be shown to ANCAP’s top management.
Assembling this document used to take up to 10 days, which meant that the consolidated information could only be delivered about 15 days after it was requested. Now, IBM Cognos Business Intelligence generates the reports in real time, literally at the touch of a button – freeing ANCAP’s analysts from time-consuming manual work and allowing them to focus on creating new analyses to help refine business operations.
This instant reporting capability also gives ANCAP a fully accurate and up-to-date view of all its activities. The company can run comparisons of its current financial results with those of past years, as well as verify whether there have been any losses, shortages or related issues.
Enhanced logistics ensures efficient supplyANCAP is also using its analytics solution to support a number of operational improvements – including, for example, better management of logistics. The company uses a fleet of trucks to deliver fuel to service stations across the country. Managing these fuel deliveries efficiently is the key to maintaining a reliable supply throughout the country, and ensuring that fuel is available when customers want to buy it.
“We integrated IBM Cognos Business Intelligence with Google Maps, which enables us to create specific and targeted routes for our trucks,” says Pontillo. “We can optimize the routes that our drivers take to each service station, and even plan for specific scenarios – for example, determining which dispatch area the trucks should go to if there is a shortage of fuel at one of the main distribution plants.”
Geographical analysis enhances business planningGeographical analytics capabilities are also useful for the company’s production, pricing and sales teams.
Business AnalyticsIBM Software
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“By integrating IBM Cognos TM1 with SAP, we have created a closed-loop process that allows us to extract financial data from SAP, enrich it in our budgeting tool, and then return the updated data to SAP.”
— Sergio Pi, CIO, ANCAP
“We can use the mapping tool to track up-to-date information about how much fuel we sell at each of the different stations across the country, and can even compare the results to those in neighboring countries such as Argentina and Brazil,” says Pontillo.
Building a successful partnershipANCAP’s IBM business analytics solution is developed and maintained by its IT department in close partnership with Quanam, one of Uruguay’s leading analytics specialists and IBM Business Partners.
The ANCAP and Quanam team has built a corporate data warehouse that pulls data from multiple sources, including the company’s SAP ERP system and a range of in-house applications. It has also replaced all of the company’s existing analytics applications with IBM Cognos tools, and created a single central analytics platform that is easily accessible for ANCAP’s employees at any time.
“By integrating IBM Cognos TM1 with SAP, we have created a closed-loop process that allows us to extract financial data from SAP, enrich it in our budgeting tool, and then return the updated data to SAP,” comments Pi. “The integration between the two solutions is a significant advantage: SAP provides a reliable source of detailed data, and Cognos provides the powerful analysis capabilities we need to make that data useful to the business.”
The close partnership between ANCAP and Quanam has been a significant factor in the project’s success. Pi adds: “Working with Quanam has allowed us to broaden our capacities and expertise in business analytics and, ultimately, guarantee a smooth implementation of the IBM Cognos software,” says Pi. “Today, our IT staff collaborates with nearly fifteen Quanam professionals who provide great quality support. Having Quanam as a local partner in Uruguay means that we can always count on them to answer any questions or quickly resolve any problems we might encounter.”
He concludes: “The IBM Cognos solution we implemented was a total success, in every area of the company up to top management levels, and we are absolutely satisfied with the technical support and business insight delivered by both IBM and Quanam.
